The Pittsburgh Steelers are the NFL’s No. 17 most valuable franchise, per the 2025 franchise valuations lists released by Sportico today. The Steelers are valued at $6.51 billion, putting them behind the Denver Broncos at No. 15 ($6.55 billion) and the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 16 ($6.53 billion).
The Steelers are ahead of the publicly owned Green Bay Packers ($6.48 billion) and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ($6.47 billion), who came in at No. 18 and No. 19, respectively.
The Dallas Cowboys are once again the NFL’s most valuable franchise, with a valuation of $12.8 billion. The top five is rounded out by the Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, New England Patriots and San Francisco 49ers, the only five teams with a valuation above $8.5 billion. The Cowboys, Rams and Giants are the only three teams with a valuation above $10 billion.
The Cincinnati Bengals are the least valuable NFL franchise, with a valuation of $5.5 billion. The Steelers are still the most valuable franchise in the AFC North, with the Cleveland Browns ranking as the 23rd-most valuable ($6.14 billion) and the Baltimore Ravens at No. 24 ($6 billion).
Notably, the Steelers’ year-to-year value change was lower than most franchises at just 17%, which is a reason why they fell in the rankings. Both the Broncos and the Chiefs rose above them with the Broncos experiencing a 19% value change from last year and the Chiefs’ value increasing by 20%. The Steelers’ 17% value change is the lowest of any team in the top 20. Only the Buffalo Bills, Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers saw their value increase by less than 17%.
The Steelers did make a $154 million operating profit last season, placing them 13th among NFL franchises. The Cowboys made over double the operating profit of the No. 2 team, the Los Angeles Rams, with a $440 million operating profit last season. The Rams were in second place at $220 million.
One other reason the Chiefs were able to rise above the Steelers was their Foolish Club Studios, a production studio that was launched in February following the success of Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, which Sportico noted was the No. 1 cable movie in 2024.
It’s hard to see the Steelers franchise leaving the hands of the Rooney family, and a sale anytime in the near future would be shocking. While the Steelers may not rank in the top half of the most valuable NFL franchises, they’d still fetch a pretty penny. The average NFL team is worth $7.13 billion, while Sportico has the average NBA team selling for $4.6 billion, the second-highest average total in Big 4 American sports. The NFL blows that number out of the water.
There are a number of factors that influence why the Steelers, one of the NFL’s most historic franchises, aren’t among the league’s most valuable teams, but one big one is market size. The most valuable teams play in the biggest markets, and those are the teams that tend to bring in more revenue. The Steelers are doing just fine on the revenue side of things though, and maybe more success this season will drive their value up and help increase their year-to-year value change.
